Features
Eight Steps to Make Mediation Successful
In the May 2006 issue of <i>Employment Law Strategist</i>, Marc Engel considered the virtues of mediation and the positive outcomes a successful mediation experience can create. In this second of a two-part series, he elaborates on specific steps that can be taken to make a mediation successful.
e-Commerce Docket Sheet
Recent cases in e-commerce law and in the e-commerce industry.
The Tarnished Parachute
As American companies struggle to compete in a global market, they are increasingly considering the merits of eliminating or reducing costly retiree benefits. For many companies, the costs of these benefits have become staggering. For example, before recently announcing plans to freeze health benefits for tens of thousands of its white-collar retirees, Ford Motor Co. was facing health-care expenses of more than $3.5 billion. Its rival, General Motors, which according to recent reports owes a projected $89 billion in welfare and pension benefits to its current and future retirees, just announced that it will offer workers with 10 years' experience a payment of $140,000 and a pension, if in return these workers will leave their employment and forgo health care benefits.
Features
Employee Handbooks
Employee handbooks can be an essential tool for communicating company policies and procedures to employees of any type of enterprise.
Features
The 10 Bits Of Legal Advice Every Tech Client Should Get ' On Day One
You've seen it so many times: New tech clients have great dreams. They're always sure that their invention will make millions, as soon as you, their attorney, introduce them to people who can provide the funding that will develop, market and advertise the invention.<br>Counsel, unfortunately, must play their role, and discharge their responsibilities, and end these dreams with a splash of reality. This is the way of the world: While some startup firms will taste success, most, for a host of reasons that fit each company according to the company's situation, will not. <br>So as a new client sits across your desk, what advice must you give? Below is my take on the e-commerce advice that counsel must dispense, whether or not the client wants to hear it ' including how to work best with counsel to get results at a reasonable cost.
Features
Cyber Rentals
The Internet has profoundly changed the way real-estate rental transactions are executed, mostly for the better. Besides putting significant amounts of rental information into the hands of potential tenants and allowing virtual tours of available rental properties, the Internet allows prospective renters and landlords to submit rental applications and negotiate contracts online. Properly executed, an Internet real-estate rental application may save time and money for the potential tenant and landlord. Improperly executed, such an application may result in legal difficulties, including unenforceable contracts and negligence claims.
Features
Slouching Toward WIPO
Ten years ago, delegates at a Diplomatic Conference at the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) in Geneva concluded two treaties to modernize member nations' intellectual property laws to accommodate the realities of digital technology. The WIPO Copyright Treaty (WCT, passed Dec. 20, 1996, and effective March 6, 2002), and the WIPO Performers' and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT, passed Dec. 20, 1996, and in force May 2, 2002), collectively known as the WIPO Internet Treaties, provide for the expansion of existing rights and the creation of new rights in subject matter protected by copyright.<br>Canada, under the guidance of successive governments led by the Liberal Party of Canada, chose to consult widely with stakeholders over the direction it should take in legislating. The result was a lengthy consultation process culminating in a bill ' Bill C-60, An Act to Amend the Copyright Act, 1st Session of the 38th Parliament, 2005 ' that implemented Canada's obligations under the WIPO Treaties, but departed from the DMCA view of those treaties in several key respects, including the scope and ambit of anti-circumvention laws. While lobbyists for rights-holder organizations ' and the U.S. Trade Representative ' denounced Bill C-60 as non-compliant with the WIPO Internet Treaties, none took such claims seriously.
Features
Business Crimes Hotline
National decisions you need to know.
Features
In the Courts
Recent rulings of interest to you and your practice.
Criminal Enforcement of FBAR Filing Requirements
With this year's June 30 deadline for the Foreign Bank Account Reports (FBAR) fast approaching, it's worth considering the federal government's increased attention to the FBAR rules. Though criminal and civil enforcement relating to persons failing to comply with FBAR reporting requirements has been rare, the IRS (now the agency principally responsible for FBAR compliance) appears to be gearing up to investigate and prosecute willful violators. This new emphasis, together with the IRS's ever-expanding ability to obtain once secret information from foreign jurisdictions, suggests that we will be seeing more investigations and prosecutions in this area.
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